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Investing in mutual funds directly vs through a brokerage.
@Ben- How about one of those motorized scooter things? Lots of those in SF. There's also a really interesting little motorized gizmo with only one wheel, too... a uniscooter, I guess. Daredevils with (hopefully) good balance zoom around on those. I don't know if I've ever seen the same person twice though, so maybe the survival rate isn't all that it could be.
@Ben, Sounds like you’re happy now. No reason to change. My leap was triggered by intense unhappiness with TRP’s service and customer support (not their funds). Having about half my assets with them, that was the first move. Over the next couple years I became comfortable with Fido and gradually shifted everything else to them.
Appreciate @MikeM ‘s contribution to the thread. Always has something worthwhile to say. And like me, he’s been around the block a few times.
@Old_Joe. Those one wheeled gizmos look appealing. Probably good if you’re invested in the health care segment - but likely bad if you’re in insurance. I’ll stick to 2-wheels.
Than there’s this great line from Orwell’s Animal Farm: "Four legs good, two legs bad"
Vanguard was the worst of the lot for sure, but not the only one. I've never tried the Fidelity brokerage but there have been so many posts on this forum complaining about problems there that I'm not encouraged to try it out.
Have there been complaints about Fidelity here? Yes Do they have more issues than other comparable brokers? Probably not
One rule of thumb of the internet is that people are more likely to share problems they have with a service provider than to give them praise. After all, if everything is going well you don’t think about having to remark on it. There may also be a bit of confirmation bias on your part as well. You’re expecting problems with brokers so that’s what you remember.
I have used TDA and Schwab for almost all the assets that I manage myself since the early 90’s. On occasion, I have bought funds directly (Bruce, Walthausen, Bridgeway, and Grandeur Peak) without difficulty. I no longer hold any of those positions. Quite recently I invested seamlessly with Seafarer because Schwab does not carry SFVLX. Conversely, I sent an application and check to a pretty unknown fund (despite $460M AUM) and things went south. After 14 days of silence from the new fund, punctuated by maybe 3 phone calls, I finally stopped payment on the check. (Through this experience I learned that Schwab Bank has no charge for stop payment and the operation can be done electronically. Quel service!) Two days later, the fund informs me that they opened a new account for me. Schwab said the fund had not presented my check and my checking account saw no change in balance. Several days after that the fund sends me a form saying my check could not be credited to the account Never did figure out what was going on, but I suspect the back office of the fund was understaffed. It’s all straightened out. More will be revealed. Service at Schwab has always been exemplary, while only usually at independent funds. YMMV.
The nearest Fidelity office is four miles from my home. There is no parking whatsoever around there.
My nearest Fidelity office is nearly 4 miles away, over in the next county. Not only is parking nonexistent, but the drive alone would take around a half hour on a good day (an hour is more realistic). Not in a million years would I drive to a nearby Fidelity branch. (Some branches two counties and a 1¼ hour drive away have parking lots.)
I can still count on Fidelity for notary and medallion guarantee services. Not so for the Schwab office four blocks from me or the neighborhood BofA/Merrill. They'll both just send the papers over to a back office somewhere for a medallion stamp. Not a single neighborhood financial institution, brokerage or bank, has a notary anymore (I checked a month ago).
I used to deal with fund companies directly, and it was a huge hassle. It was much more trouble making changes, and I was continually bombarded with mailings and paperwork. My life has been much simpler since we moved all of our accounts to Fidelity. I am able to invest in a range of funds from Fidelity and other fund companies. Fidelity has excellent money market and CD offerings. I can make transactions online quickly and with no difficulties. I have invested wit Fidelity for 20+ years and can’t recall a single bad experience. I also had accounts at T Rowe Price and ended up moving those to Fidelity as well.
What a generous outpouring. Thank you, everyone. I'm not suggesting to end the thread, I'm just grateful. Tell ya what. If I ever move my investments to a brokerage it'll be to Fidelity.
Yesterday I stopped by Fidelity to drop off a $30 check. I told the rep to put the money into my premium MMF, not the core fund. Fidelity usually executes this correctly. But when I got home, I looked at the receipt and saw that it went into "Core".
What a tragedy!
Have you calculated your before tax loss on this error by Fidelity over the next 12 months? FSOA - let’s assume perhaps the “Core” account is yielding 4.75% and the “Premium” 5% … On a $30 deposit it appears you’re receiving about a penny a month less in interest than what you’d have earned had Fidelity not screwed up.
Notaries just require state registrations/licenses to operate. Some get it for earning extra income on the side. Many currency exchanges have notaries. Many legal offices have someone on staff as notary. All a notary is vouching is that the signature belongs to the one signing it (in front of them) - there is no liability beyond that (and any liability would be the loss of registration/license).
Signature Guarantee is same as Medallion Signature Guarantee. It is by bank or financial institution officer. Beyond authentication of signature, there is also financial liability about the soundness of the document being guaranteed. In some Signature Guarantees at my local bank, I have gone through almost half-hour interview process on what/why I am doing something. Once for a 529 signature guarantee, the guy thought something looked strange, and he called the 529 program right away to determine if what I was doing was allowed by them. Good that I had prior related correspondence from the 529.
It's a long way of saying that I doubt some kid at the local FedEx or UPS store can do Signature Guarantee.
Perhaps my memory of what was notarized at the local UPS stores near me is flawed. I'm pretty sure I got two medallion signature guarantees at one of them. I can say one thing for sure: maybe 12 years ago local banks stopped being a sure bet for medallions. They went from Any Time You Wish Sir, to once a week, to a haphazard schedule to none. And when it got to None they sent me to Any Notary Public. And I found one a block or two from the bank. She was not a financial institution officer. And she charged me an exorbitant fee. But I got the medallion signature guarantee in her little office.
I've only needed a medallion signature guarantee once when transferring IRA assets to a different institution. My local credit union provided this service at no charge.
After many bad experiences with Vanguard from top to bottom, I left a dozen years ago for Fidelity and have not regretted the choice once.
Literally or figuratively a dozen years ago? The reason for the question is that around 14 years ago (2009) Vanguard dropped Pershing as its clearing house and started self clearing. Virtually all the comments I read said that this was a major improvement.
Comments
@Ben, Sounds like you’re happy now. No reason to change. My leap was triggered by intense unhappiness with TRP’s service and customer support (not their funds). Having about half my assets with them, that was the first move. Over the next couple years I became comfortable with Fido and gradually shifted everything else to them.
Appreciate @MikeM ‘s contribution to the thread. Always has something worthwhile to say. And like me, he’s been around the block a few times.
@Old_Joe. Those one wheeled gizmos look appealing. Probably good if you’re invested in the health care segment - but likely bad if you’re in insurance. I’ll stick to 2-wheels.
Than there’s this great line from Orwell’s Animal Farm: "Four legs good, two legs bad"
Do they have more issues than other comparable brokers? Probably not
One rule of thumb of the internet is that people are more likely to share problems they have with a service provider than to give them praise. After all, if everything is going well you don’t think about having to remark on it. There may also be a bit of confirmation bias on your part as well. You’re expecting problems with brokers so that’s what you remember.
My nearest Fidelity office is nearly 4 miles away, over in the next county. Not only is parking nonexistent, but the drive alone would take around a half hour on a good day (an hour is more realistic). Not in a million years would I drive to a nearby Fidelity branch. (Some branches two counties and a 1¼ hour drive away have parking lots.)
These days many urban areas have bikeshare systems for short, one-way trips. No need to own a bike.
https://data.bts.gov/stories/s/Bikeshare-and-e-scooters-in-the-U-S-/fwcs-jprj/
I can still count on Fidelity for notary and medallion guarantee services. Not so for the Schwab office four blocks from me or the neighborhood BofA/Merrill. They'll both just send the papers over to a back office somewhere for a medallion stamp. Not a single neighborhood financial institution, brokerage or bank, has a notary anymore (I checked a month ago).
Those four miles are looking better and better
Have you calculated your before tax loss on this error by Fidelity over the next 12 months? FSOA - let’s assume perhaps the “Core” account is yielding 4.75% and the “Premium” 5% … On a $30 deposit it appears you’re receiving about a penny a month less in interest than what you’d have earned had Fidelity not screwed up.
Brings to mind BF - “A penny saved …”
Maybe because some kid is doing it at the local FEDEX/UPS store.
How about wills and trusts?
Notaries just require state registrations/licenses to operate. Some get it for earning extra income on the side. Many currency exchanges have notaries. Many legal offices have someone on staff as notary. All a notary is vouching is that the signature belongs to the one signing it (in front of them) - there is no liability beyond that (and any liability would be the loss of registration/license).
Signature Guarantee is same as Medallion Signature Guarantee. It is by bank or financial institution officer. Beyond authentication of signature, there is also financial liability about the soundness of the document being guaranteed. In some Signature Guarantees at my local bank, I have gone through almost half-hour interview process on what/why I am doing something. Once for a 529 signature guarantee, the guy thought something looked strange, and he called the 529 program right away to determine if what I was doing was allowed by them. Good that I had prior related correspondence from the 529.
It's a long way of saying that I doubt some kid at the local FedEx or UPS store can do Signature Guarantee.
I can say one thing for sure: maybe 12 years ago local banks stopped being a sure bet for medallions. They went from Any Time You Wish Sir, to once a week, to a haphazard schedule to none. And when it got to None they sent me to Any Notary Public. And I found one a block or two from the bank. She was not a financial institution officer. And she charged me an exorbitant fee. But I got the medallion signature guarantee in her little office.
Here is a link to info about what UPS notarizes:
https://www.theupsstore.com/store-services/notary-services
It looks like wills and trusts are included at at least some of their branches.
No mention of medallions.
My local credit union provided this service at no charge.
Signature Guarantee look (that prefix X is surety for $10,000,000),